Video Walking Tour, Boise Cascade Property in America's Vancouver

[Chief]

I took my digital camera down to the Boise Cascade Property this morning, and shot three videos that show what the property looks like, along with some of the significant features of it as well.

As always, technologically Challenged "Dittos" to Louis for the use of his YouTube Account....

Here's the link to the first one. It starts at Ester Short park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsiyZIQHbzE

Additional link from Photobucket

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/th_BoiseCascadeOne.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/?action=view&current=BoiseCascadeOne.flv)


Be sure to listen for the crashing of that freight train, and imagine your Condo right next to it when it happens at 2:00 AM. Keep in mind that there are 45 trains across that stretch of tracks, every single day, and BNSF is looking at ways to move even more trains through there in order to service the Port of Vancouver.

Also notice the immediate proximity of the Boise Cascade property, to Scotty Campbell's bright new shiny Columbian Building. I didn't fully appreciate how well placed the new "Pravda Palace" was going to be until I went down there and stood on the sidewalk and looked at it. For all of the whining that goes on in the Columbian about "reclaiming our waterfront", The Columbian is erecting a very effective screen between "our waterfront" and Fantasyland at City Hall...

Let us keep in mind, that the Columbian has also reported that the City estimates an additional 20,000 vehicles in and out of that property a day, if it is developed as rumored. That means that they all will traverse 6th Street in some way, because that's the only street that borders the northern edge of the site.

[Chief]

Here's the link to part two...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLwdZY3thNE

Additional link from Photobucket.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/th_BoiseCascadeTwo.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/?action=view&current=BoiseCascadeTwo.flv)


It's a shame that I cannot share the aroma around this area. The creosote smell coming off of that trestle has to be experienced in order to be fully appreciated.

That trestle is a likely site for one of the other traffic entrances. or the pedestiran entrance. It will take some serious engineering, and major construction work to make the opening under that trestle high enough for traffic. What it looks like to me is that it would be necessary to dig a shallow tunnel under the berm in order to get a safe height above any traffic lane. It has to be at least 14 feet 8 inches to fit a semi-trailer, and the clearance right now is about 10 feet. That means some major rebuilding of the structure itself along with major changes to the foundations in order to make the opening wide enough for two lanes of traffic.

If it is just to be for pedestirans, the height is not an issue, but it is almost three blocks from Ester Short Park, and the area is not one I would want to be walking around in after dark. Look again at the areas under that trestle. God only knows what goes on under there after the sun goes down...

[Chief]

And the link to Part Three

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VECfy5jh_xc

And an additional link from my Photobucket Account.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/th_BoiseCascadeThree.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/?action=view&current=BoiseCascadeThree.flv)

The smell around that fuel station and the asphalt plant is another that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. I wouldn't want to live anywhere near that.

I'm not sure who owns the actual trackage for the spur line that divides the property on the West end of the site. It is apparent that this spur was the primary way the site was serviced by the railroad; the question is whether BNSF owns the rights to it, or not.

If they do not, removing it would be a relatively simple matter, and one would think that track removal would have been part of the demolition that the City so hurredly conducted at the site earlier last year. Since the tracks remain, there is ample reason to wonder if the railroad doesn't have a use for them right now.

[Chief]

Updating...

Boy! Has it ever gone quiet in Vancouver about this subject! I haven't heard Boo!, sic' 'em, or kiss my ass about Boise Cascade Development for weeks now...

I know "Rolls" Royce bathered about this in the SOTC speech, but what he says is usually far from reality, and I discount whatever he claims to be true.

Money talks, and I would love to hear something from Gramor Development, to see what they are thinking these days, especially since the Port announced plans for a new railroad spur that will freshly divide that property in half, from Ester Street to the old railroad bridge.

"Curiouser and curiouser", said Alice...

;D

[Chief]

bttt4wb

[Waterbuffalo]

Oops. Duplication effort and error..

Didn't know you had this posted.. Though I had a lot more videos from Vancouver Washington to post, but this one caught my attention.

[Waterbuffalo]

<bumps subject..>